


It's A Wonderful Life

by Tamyou



Series: Harry Potter Tumblr Prompts/Drabbles [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Based on a Tumblr Post, Character Development, Dimension Travel, Drabble, Drabble Collection, F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, POV Draco Malfoy, Tumblr Prompt, Well the comfort is theoretical
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-03
Updated: 2019-09-03
Packaged: 2020-10-06 01:06:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20498354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tamyou/pseuds/Tamyou
Summary: “What the…?” He breathed, pulling the long, loose ponytail that was attached to his head forwards, staring cross-eyed in disbelief at the long strands of silvery blond hair that he knew for a fact were not supposed to be that long.Draco jumped off the bed, now truly alarmed, and frankly, quite scared. It wasn’t just the room that was different. It was him.





	It's A Wonderful Life

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a Tumblr [post](https://lemonbuncake.tumblr.com/post/187258355239/tamyourue-toooldtolive-treacletvrts/) by [treacletvrts](https://archiveofourown.org/users/treacletvrts/).
> 
> "What if someone writes a whole fic around a specific scene I just imagined. Like AU where Draco doubts he and Harry will last forever. And one day their simple arument escalated into fighting and Draco had switched on his defense mechanism of instead of being hurt, he chooses to hurt Harry first. Words like knife. He tells Harry they should have not been together, that he regrets being in love with the saviour. And next thing Draco knows, his world it turned upside down. Literally. He wakes up in a seemingly different timeline, where Draco is married to Astoria, and Harry's engaged with a muggle. Where the past five years post war didn't happen. Where he and Harry had never met once after the trials. Draco will get a taste of life without Harry. And the point of the whole fic is Draco becoming a better person. Realizing that he should have cared more. making unlikely freindships with people he thought he'll never be friends with. And lastly - realizing how much Harry meant to him and he'll do whatever it takes to make him happy. Even if Draco has to give him up."
> 
> A slightly edited version of a 2am tumblr drabble.

How did it come to this?

Of course, this was not the first time Draco and Harry had fallen into a shouting match. Fighting has always been part of their dynamics, ever since they were children. It was healthy for them, normal. Sometimes even fun. And Draco had to admit that sometimes both of them could be thick-headed, stubborn, and short-tempered, especially during bad or stressful days. They both had the problem of caring too much, feeling too much - especially towards each other - and with so much passion and tension constantly simmering between them, they had to find ways to eventually let it out. Most of the time, that included screaming their heads off at each other until they ran out of steam.

Plus, the make-up sex was always a nice bonus.

They made up. They _always_ made up. They always calmed down and apologized and kissed away the harsh words both of them knew were never meant to be said from the heart. They always, always made up.

_So how did it come to this?_

How did he reach that point?

How could he ever lose control enough to spit out his worst fears with such venom, to push his only love away to the point of causing tears to spill out of Harry’s eyes, to cause this look of pure betrayal to show on the face he wanted to wake up to every morning for the rest of his life.

How could he have crossed that line?

Panting with the harshness of his breaths, the tightening of his chest, Draco bit his lip hard, futily trying to stop the tremble of his chin. He was sure his heart had stopped beating a while ago, slowing down to a halt with the first tear that slipped out of the hurt green eyes that stared at him with such unbearable pain.

“So that’s it then?” Harry asked, his voice cracking, mirroring the crack of Draco’s heart. He closed his eyes, unable to bear looking at Harry anymore, to be forced to see the hurt he had caused.

“Draco.” his name, whispered with such desperation, and he never hated it more. “Draco, please look at me. Please.”

And suddenly it was just too much, and he couldn’t take another second of it, else he’d crack and break and never be able to put himself back together again. He couldn’t stay there, couldn’t keep looking at Harry, talk to Harry, as if he didn’t just break his heart. As if he didn’t just do the one thing he promised himself he’d never do.

So he fled.

* * *

The faint glow that shone into his eyes burned through his eyelids, making him wince and groan in protest as he rolled onto the other side and brought a hand up, running it over his face. He yawned, slowly opening his eyes, as if unsure he really wanted to wake up at all. After all, what did he even have to wake up to, after what happened with Harry last night?

Last night.

Last night…?

With a skip of a heartbeat, Draco sat up in bed, bolt straight. No longer drowsy but wide awake, he looked around him with wild eyes, taking in the gray walls, the cherry wood dresser that he’d never before seen in his life, the midnight blue satin bedsheets… all completely, entirely unfamiliar.

Where was he?

And more importantly, whose bed was it?

He wondered if he'd somehow gotten drunk and went home with someone, after the terrible, fateful fight he and Harry had last night, but he couldn’t remember going anywhere for a drink.

He pushed the covers off of himself slowly, as if afraid to make any noise, and swung his legs off the bed, bare feet colliding with the cold wooden floor. He looked around the strange room again, trying to find anything familiar, anything that would tell him into whose bed he'd stumbled, but there was nothing, and Draco reached up to run a hand through his hair in frustration.

And then he froze.

“What the…?” He breathed, pulling the long, loose ponytail that was attached to his head forwards, staring cross-eyed in disbelief at the long strands of silvery blond hair that he knew for a fact were _not_ supposed to be that long.

Draco jumped off the bed, now truly alarmed, and frankly, quite scared. It wasn’t just the room that was different. It was _him_.

* * *

This was not his world.

In the months that had passed since he’d first woken up in this world, Draco learned more about his life here and himself than he’d ever wanted to know.

This world was much less forgiving than his own. After the trials, his family and himself had became social pariahs. The Malfoy name that had once stood for class, elegance, and power, now meant _shame_. His father had lost most of their possessions just to keep the manor running, and his mother rarely dared to leave the house anymore, unwilling to face the sneers and disdain aimed their way.

He had a wife in this world. It was the one last attempt of his father to raise their family’s social standing, to marry his son off for comfort. It didn’t seem to matter to anyone that Draco didn’t love her, that he never would. Not even to her.

Because Astoria Greengrass - now Malfoy - was kind and patient, and so very understanding. She knew her marriage was not born out of love, but she had enough of it in her heart to last them both, and for that Draco was grateful. They didn’t have children yet - not for the lack of trying - and with every day that passed Draco could feel his father grow more and more desperate.

His life here was wretched.

But none of it was worse than knowing that in this world, there was no Harry in his life.

* * *

When he first woke up here, Draco’s first course of action - after he was done freaking out and scaring the daylights out of his poor wife - was to look for Harry. He needed to apologize, to beg for forgiveness, to change the world he’d found himself in.

His heart broke anew when he discovered that Harry was no longer in his life. He was in a happy relationship with a muggleborn Hufflepuff that Draco vaguely remembered was in Cedric Diggory’s year, and when Draco saw the _Daily Prophet_ article about their upcoming engagement, he knew that he would never have the chance to say, “I’m sorry,” again.

* * *

He didn’t plan to actually go look for Harry. Not after that article that crushed his very last hope for redemption. The photo that was attached to the article showed Harry beaming at the photographer, leaning back into his fiancé’s one-armed embrace, and the smile on his face was real. Draco would know. He’d been privileged enough to have seen every single one of Harry’s smiles. The ones he faked for the press, the shy ones he’d shared with his friends. He'd seen the sad smile Harry would force on his face every year on October 31st, faking until Draco would sooth the strain away and he'd realize he didn’t have to pretend anymore. And he'd been lucky enough to have seen the soft, lazy, early morning smiles, the loving smiles, the gentle, unguarded, _content_ smiles, that were meant just for Draco.

He'd seen that smile just one more time, and he knew. Harry was Happy.

And so, Draco was perfectly prepared to settle into this new, sad life, with a wife he didn’t love, and parents that were too ashamed to show their faces in public anymore. He really was.

Until he saw him.

* * *

“Malfoy.”

It’s been years since the last time he’d heard Harry’s voice say his name that way, with barely more than mere tolerance, with polite distance, with a hint of a truce. With a promise of a possibility. It hurt more than he thought was possible, and Draco had to swallow a couple of times before he could speak.

“Potter,” he replied, and the name was foreign on his tongue.

“I heard you got married,” Harry said, nodding politely to Astoria, who flashed him a smile as she busied herself with shrinking their shopping bags. “Congratulations.”

Draco nodded, his heart shuttering with the words that he forced out, “For you, as well.” and watched the hesitant, shy smile that stretched Harry’s lips as he shifted the hand that bore the shiny new ring, as if to hide it.

“You read, huh?” He asked sheepishly. “It was not my idea. But Reg’s boss is married to the _Prophet_’s editor, so…” he trailed off.

Draco didn’t answer for a long moment. It was too hard to try and form words, thoughts, emotions. It all swirled madly in his head, flooding his chest until he was sure it would all come out with one great sob, and it took every last bit of his will not to let it show. All he wanted to know was one thing, and the words escaped his mouth before he could stop them.

“Are you happy?”

* * *

The faint glow that shone into his eyes burned through his eyelids, making him wince and groan in protest as he rolled onto the other side and brought a hand up, running it over his face. He yawned, slowly opening his eyes, as if unsure he really wanted to wake up at all. After all, what did he even have to wake up to, after what happened with Harry yesterday at Diagon Alley?

Yesterday…

With a skip of a heartbeat, Draco sat up in bed, bolt straight. No longer drowsy but wide awake, he looked around him with wild eyes, taking in the white walls, the gray-ish, cheap nightstand that was vaguely familiar and full with half-empty bottles of potions, the white, scratchy bedsheets… all strangely familiar, and equally baffling.

Was he in the hospital?

“You’re awake.”

Draco startled at the painfully familiar voice, his head whipping back towards the door. Sharp grey eyes widened, taking in the sight of Harry who was standing there hesitantly, tense and uncomfortable, unsure whether he was welcome.

Draco’s eyes filled with tears.

There was no ring.

**Author's Note:**

> Come visit me at [tumblr](http://tamyourue.tumblr.com/).
> 
> Reviews are food for a writer's soul.


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